Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.
Centre for Surveillance of Applied Research, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Can J Public Health. 2023 Dec;114(6):1019-1028. doi: 10.17269/s41997-023-00778-1. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Perceptions of body weight represent an important health issue for Canadian adolescents. While associations between weight perception and mental health concerns like eating disorder symptomatology are well established, there is need for more Canadian evidence about how weight perception is associated with overt risk-taking among adolescents, and further how such associations differ by biological sex.
We conducted a national analysis of grade 9-10 students participating in the 2017-2018 cycle of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Canada. This analysis described contemporary patterns of alternate weight perception and then examined the strength and statistical significance of such associations by biological sex, with tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis use, binge drinking, fighting, and illicit drug use as outcomes. Behaviours were considered both individually and in combination. Analyses were descriptive and analytical, with regression models accounting for the nested and clustered nature of the sampling approach.
Responses from 2135 males and 2519 females were available for a complete case series analysis. A total of 26% and 35% of males and females, respectively, perceived themselves as "too fat" while 20% and 9% identified as "too thin". Females perceiving themselves as "too fat" reported higher likelihoods of engaging in individual and scaled indicators of overt risk-taking. Conversely, among males, alternate weight perception was associated with lower levels of such behaviours.
As males and females perceive and react to weight perception differently, clinical and health promotion strategies should be developed and uniquely targeted to groups of adolescents in regards to weight perception and risk-taking.
对体重的认知是加拿大青少年健康的一个重要问题。虽然体重认知与饮食障碍症状等心理健康问题之间存在关联已得到充分证实，但仍需要更多加拿大的证据来表明体重认知与青少年明显的冒险行为之间的关联，以及这种关联如何因生物性别而有所不同。
我们对参加 2017-2018 年加拿大健康行为在青少年研究（HBSC）周期的 9-10 年级学生进行了一项全国性分析。该分析描述了交替体重认知的当代模式，然后根据生物性别检查了这些关联的强度和统计学意义，将吸烟、饮酒和使用大麻、狂饮、打架和非法药物使用作为结果。将行为单独和组合进行了考虑。分析是描述性和分析性的，回归模型考虑了抽样方法的嵌套和聚类性质。
共有 2135 名男性和 2519 名女性的回复可用于完整病例系列分析。分别有 26%和 35%的男性和女性认为自己“太胖”，而 20%和 9%的人认为自己“太瘦”。认为自己“太胖”的女性报告说，参与个人和规模化冒险行为的可能性更高。相反，在男性中，交替体重认知与较低水平的此类行为有关。
由于男性和女性对体重认知的感知和反应不同，应针对青少年群体的体重认知和冒险行为制定和独特地制定临床和健康促进策略。
